Tanaka’s Bonding Wire Shipment Exceeds Pre-Shock Volume in 1H2010

Tanaka Holdings announced on Thursday the firm’s bonding wire shipment in January-June 2010 exceeded the volume in January-June 2008, increasing by 6%. The shipment especially increased for copper bonding wire in response to high gold price. Tanaka Denshi Kogyo, one of core companies of Tanaka Holdings, is the global top supplier of bonding wire.

The firm’s gold bonding wire shipment volume decreased by 43% in July-December 2008 compared with January-June 2008 due to inventory adjustment along economic deterioration. The demand upturned in 2009 and returned to the level almost as high as in January-June 2008 in latest 6 months.

Copper bonding wire has been appealed as an alternative material for gold bonding wire since gold price has stayed high. Tanaka’s copper bonding wire shipment volume dropped by 32% in July-December 2008 against January-June 2008 while sharply rebounded in January-June 2009. The shipment volume expanded by 9 times in January-June 2010 compared with January-June 2008.

Tanaka has solved problems of copper bonding wire against temperature change, wetness and oxidization and, as a result, the alternative demand is expected to keep steady.

The shipment of aluminium bonding wire also increased by 7% in January-June 2010 compared with January-June 2008, though which dropped by 42% at bottom. Aluminium bonding wire is easy to thicken at low cost, which allows high electric currency. This advantage is preferred by environment and energy saving applications such as power devices and solar cells.